Ｂ級ご当地グルメ ( B-kyuu gotoochi gurume, B-class Local Gourment) --- Japanese Cuisine 9

Atsugi shirokoro-horumon

B-kyu Gotochi Gurume

  "B-class local gourmet" is the term for simple yet tasty foods like udon noodles, yakisoba(fried noodles)  curry, bowls of rice topped with different ingredients. Those are usually simple and cheap but tasty, prepared using mainly local ingredients.

Hachinohe senbei-jiru

  B-1 Grand Prix Competition (B-kyu Gotochi Gurume Festival) is annually held nationwide to invigorate the local areas by introducing popular local foods, deepening knowledge of the place and strengthening ties between regions.

 In 2006 when the first festival was held, there were only 10 participating groups and 17,000 visitors, and it has gained popularity throughout Japan. This year 2014, there were 59 groups and 453,000 visitors in the festival in Kooriyama City, Fukushima.

Yokote yakisoba

The Winning Dishes
  Atsugi shirokoro-horumon (grilled beef or pork intestine) won the championship at the 3rd event in 2009, Yokote yakisoba(fried noodles) at the 4th, Kofu motsuni (stewed chicken intestines)  at the 5th, Hachinohe senbei-jiru(hot pot dish with rice crackers) at the 7th, and Towada-barayaki (beef ribs) at the 9th.

たこやき ( takoyaki, Octopus Ball) ---- Japanese Cuisine 8

たこやき (takoyaki, octopus ball)

  Takoyaki are grilled octopus balls. Ingredients include batter, octopus, green onion, tempura scraps (tenkasu) and pickled ginger. Sold at street stands, takoyaki are grilled on an iron plate, and served with bonito flakes,  and green laver(aonori), a thick sauce and sometimes mayonnaise.

  Crisp takoyaki on the outside and soft chewy in the center is considered as the best.

おにぎり、Onigiri : Japanese Cuisine 7

 Onigiri 

  Onigiri are rice balls of round or triangular shape. It is a popular food taken out of on picnics or eating while traveling.

 Onigiri originated as a food when refrigerators didn't exist yet. So the Japanese came up with a method to keep the rice fresh longer by filling the center with salty or sour ingredient as natural preservatives.

 Onigiri are available from convenience stores, restaurants and supermarkets in Japan. People also make them at home.

  Popular fillings are Umeboshi(pickled Japanese plum), Tsuna Mayo (tuna & mayonnaise), Shake(salted salmon), Ikura (salted salmon roe), Tarako (salted cod roe), Mentaiko (salted cod roe spiced with red pepper), Konbu (dried kelp), Takana(takana pickles)  and so on. They are wrapped with Nori(a dried seaweed-laver sheet), or sprinkled with sesame seeds and salt.


  Yaki Onigiri Grilled Onigiri
Yaki Onigiri are plain rice onigiri that are grilled with soy sauce until golden brown and crunchy. 

初音ミク (はつね みく, hatsune miku)

日本のサブカルチャー　(nihon no sabukaluchaa) Japanese Subculture 4

初音ミク(Hatsune Miku)

  Hatsune Miku, sometimes referred to as Miku Hatsune, is a virtual singing idol developped by Crypton Future Media, headquartered in Sapporo city. She is the second Vocaloid sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine, and her voice is sampled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita.

　

  Hatsune Miku has perfromed at her concerts onstage as an animated projection, that is a new style of enjoying music. Her popularity has spread around the world with the performance collaborating even with classical music. She performed as the opening act for Lady Gaga’s concert.

新幹線 (しんかんせん, shinkansen) : Japan's Technology 1

 Shinkansen

Shinkansen & Mt. Fuji

 The Shinkansen is a super express train also known as the "bullet train".  It started the service in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Asama-Nagano shinkansen

 The Shinkansen network has been gradually expanding since then and now is almost nationwide from Shin-Aomori Station located in the northern part of Honshu the main island to Kagoshima-Chuo Station in the southern part of the Kyushu island.

Hayabusa-Tohoku Shinkansen

 If you take the Shinkansen between these two stations, it takes about ten and a half hours, which is much faster than the three days it takes by taking local trains one after another. The top speed at the time of starting operation was 210km/h but now it is 320km/h.

 It has a worldwide reputation for being extremely punctual and safe with very few delays and an extremely low mortality rate.

食品サンプル (shokuhin sanpuru) Food Sample

A mouse cover

日本の文化 (nihon no bunka) Japanese Culture 8

食品サンプル (shokuhin sampuru)  Food Sample

 Sample food was originally made as a way of attracting customers who could see it in a glass case outside of restaurants and imagine what they wanted to eat. In the Taisho Period, some one hundred years ago, the sample food was made of wax but these days the ingredients are plastic and silicone.

They look like real!!

Samples of a crepe

 It is helpful and indispensable not only for foreigners but also for Japanese people especially when we cannot decide what kind of food we want to eat in a restaurant area where there are a variety of Japanese food restaurants such as Washoku-ya, Udon-ya, Soba-ya, Tonkatsu-ya, Ramen-ya in addition to multinational food restaurants. It's very nice that you can easily draw a picture in your mind of your food and the amount you want and then decide a meal before you get in and hear "Irasshaimase" from a restaurant worker.
                                                                                                                           
 You can buy mini versions of sample food on key chains and phone straps for souvenirs.    

だるま- Daruma

日本の文化 (nihon no bunka) Japanese Culture 7

だるま (Daruma dolls)

だるま

 Daruma are dolls without hands and feet representing the sitting meditation (zazen) posture of Bodhidharma, founder of the Zen sect. His legs were said to be paralyzed because of the continuous meditation on top of a rock for some nine years with his legs crossed.

だるま市 (Daruma Fair)

  Most daruma are made of papier-mache and painted red except for the face. The bottom is heavy and works as a tumbler. Because it bounces back to its original position when it's pushed over, it serves as a good luck charm. There is the custom of painting in the eyes, which are usually white,when a wish has been fulfilled.